Trump Continues 'Thank You' Tour with Rally Tuesday Night

Carrie Doyle | December 8, 2016, 1:06

Mattis said he was "honored" by Trump's nomination. When the crowd started to boo reporters at one point, Trump told them: "No, no".

Speaking in Tampa, Florida, Obama did not mention Trump by name - but implicitly warned his successor to dispense with overheated rhetoric in favor of a nuanced approach to the war on terror, and to avoid actions that could give false legitimacy to Isis as the "vanguard of a new world order". "I think for Boeing and the suppliers, I wouldn't worry". Trump had made the announcement of the Mattis nomination last week in a speech in Cincinnati. "He is great", Trump said, using one of Mattis' nicknames.

The Trump transition team also confirmed that the president-elect will attend the Army-Navy football game on Saturday in Baltimore.

In response to national media questions, it was stated that Trump is still considering Secretary of State nominees, "meeting with a number of different people", some candidates, and some with "advice".

Should Trump decide to nominate Mattis for defense secretary, the nomination would need a waiver from Congress because it would run counter to the regulation that a retired officer can become defense secretary only seven years after leaving the military.

"Brushing aside the law that enshrines civilian control of the military - without discussion, in a massive must-pass funding bill - would set a bad precedent", House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a released statement. John McCain, who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, praised Trump's pick and said he would back a waiver for Mattis.

Trump also repeated his vow to reinforce the nation's military, believing it will lead to "peace through strength".

Speaking at the latest stop on his "thank you" tour of swing states, President-elect Donald Trump told a crowd in Fayetteville, North Carolina that he wants to "strengthen old friendships and seek out new friendships", stressing that the USA will "stop racing to topple foreign regimes that we know nothing about, that we shouldn't be involved with".

Even before that, few had doubted Trump would tap Mattis to lead the Pentagon. Carson has been coy about joining the new administration, saying shortly after Trump's election victory that he wasn't certain he'd fit into a Cabinet-style role in a job like Health and Human Services secretary. "He'll get that waiver, right? He is the person who, on the one hand, has reputation of an intellectual, who reads a lot and carries with him an extensive library, and, on the other hand, according to standards of American political correctness, is extremely intemperate in his words", the expert said, adding that the last fact especially causes concerns among American political elites.

Trump is also set to visit Iowa and MI for additional stops on his tour later this week.

That conversation takes place shortly after China protested Trump's phone call with the president of Taiwan, a country that China regards as a renegade province.